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Saturday, February 26, 2011

Happy Saturday!!! Do you have any fun plans for the weekend? My plans are to simply enjoy the time I am blessed to have with my family:) My hope is that you are able to spend loads of time with the ones you love too...and hopefully you can fit a little crafty time in there somewhere;)

Today's card features one of the soon-to-be released images at the Fresh Brewed Designs Shop! The name of this stamp is E(spresso) Mail, and I absolutely love this image!!! I would be cuckoo not to because she is enjoying all the things I love...playing on the laptop, enjoying a hot cuppa joe...ahem...for me it would be cocoa...and nibbling on a yummy cuppycake:) As far as I'm concerned...it doesn't get too much better than this. I think Heather hit a homerun with the bases loaded with this fabulous image, especially for all of us computer junkies!!!

I colored this image with Prismacolor markers...added a bit of Crystal Stickles to the cupcake and heart-shaped stirrer...painted the flower on the laptop with Creative Inspirations Paint (Tutu Pink and Fairy Dust)...glazed her lipstick, shoes, eyes and laptop with Diamond Glaze for pops of shine. Really...red lipstick should be glossy, right:) As for the card's layout, I wanted to keep it simple so the image takes center stage...and the red and turquoise color combo is one of my absolute faves...so bright and cheery. I was looking for my sentiment that says "I wish you were here", so I could write "...instead of inside my computer" inside the card. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it, and I was too lazy to make a computer generated sentiment. Oh well, I will simply write it on the inside:) But seriously, I feel like all my bestest buds live inside my computer...just as I thought the Brady Bunch and Andy Griffith lived inside my TV;) One of these days I will win the lottery and send them all tickets for a crafty celebration...and for a few of them, they will all be moving in next door:) Oh happy days!!!

If you like this image as much as I do, it will be available for purchase on March 1st and the super talented ladies of the Fresh Brewed Design Team will be hosting a blog hop to introduce you to all the new rubbah being added to the shop. Also, as an added bonus, if you help spread the word by adding the badge below to your sidebar and linking it back toFreshly Brewed Challenges, Heather will add you to the drawing for a special prize that will be announced after the March 1st hop. Cool, huh? IF YOU DO add the badge, head over to the challenge blog, email Heather and let her know!

I thank the following challenge blogs for inspiring me to create today's card:

Friday, February 25, 2011

Hello, my papercrafting pals:o) Before I get into today's creations, I thought I would share some awesome news that I received yesterday...our oldest son, Jonathon, is on his way home from Iraq!!!!!!! He should be arriving here late Friday night or very early Saturday morning:):):) Plus, his wife (Desiree) will be arriving here from Hawaii around the same time...they may even be on the same flight leaving Atlanta, and it was't even planned that way. How awesome would that be? Needless to say, I am one VERY HAPPY MOMMA!!! We may only have them here for two weeks, but it will be the best two weeks until he is home from Iraq for good!!

Okay...now that I got to share my happiness and excitement with all of you...let's get to today's creations. I have a soon-to-be SIL that I absolutely ADORE!!! She and my youngest brother have been dating for quite some time now, and I love her to pieces:o) Her name is Leah, and she is one of THE kindest and most caring people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing...she's also a cutie pie. Well, Leah loves fairies!! So, I decided to make her a gift set with some beautiful fairy stamps I purchased a couple years ago. Since her baby sister recently enlisted into the Navy, I thought she could use some cards to send to her. After making the cards, I figured she would need something to hold them, so I made her a card box. The above piccie is of the box. I kept it rather simple because I wanted the lovely image, Kyra, to be the focal point. Isn't she gorgeous? I just love this stamp!!!

Above is a closeup of Kyra and shows the shimmer in her wings. As soon as I saw this image, I knew I didn't want to color in her wings with markers...I wanted to use my Creative Inspirations paint in Fairy Dust instead. What I like about the paint is it shows her sparkly wings, yet you can still see the details beneath the wings. If you have never tried this fabulous paint, you really don't know what you're missing because it adds a wonderful shimmer to everything and comes in a wide variety of colors. Still, Fairy Dust is my all time fave:)

The card above features the adorable stamp Chloe. Isn't she a cutie? I love the way she seems lost in thought...kinda like she is missing someone she loves. You can get a better idea of the shimmer in her wings from the Fairy Dust paint. No matter what color you use, the paint adds the shimmer and allows the color beneath it to shine through.

The above card showcases the sweet image Mini Kyra. She is almost identical to the image on the card box only smaller and facing the opposite direction. I love the vintage feel to this image...I could see her in a silent movie...can't you?

Above is a closeup showing the shimmer created by the Fairy Dust paint. The paint can be very shimmery or hardly a sparkle at all...it all depends upon the way the light hits the image.

The card above, and the two below, features the darling stamp Paloma. I think she is so sweet and looks a bit dainty.

Above is a closeup of sweet Paloma. Here, you can see how the shimmer in the paint and the shimmer in Stickles differ...the paint is softer.

Okay, I think I have taken up enough of your time. If you would like to know what supplies were used in each card, the list can be found at the end of this post. I still have an altered composition book, a journal and a to-do organizer that accompanies this gift. I will be sharing them with you over the next few days.

Here are the challenges I am playing in today...there are loads of fantasy inspired themes going on this week:

Magical Monday Challenge - Their theme is Lace and you are required to use a magical image...i.e., mermaids, fairies, angels, pixies, dragons, etc...

Have a wonderful Friday everyone!!!! I very much appreciate your visit and hope you saw something you liked and will be back again:o) Enjoy your weekend!!! I will see you tomorrow with another sneak peek of some Freshly Brewed Rubbah!

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Hello there, sunshine!! How are you doing today? I hope all is well:o) Today, I want to share a simple, little thank you card. When my buddy Carmen sent me these adorable Hero Arts stamps on my birthday...I knew exactly what I wanted to create with them...a Domo Arigato (aka: thank you very much) card. It shames me to say, but I got this giftie over a year ago and this is the first time it has seen ink...hanging my head in shame:o( There are three wonderful stamps in this set, and my plan is to create a few sets of "Domo Arigato" cards with these cuties. Since this is a simple card, I won't bore you with all the details about what I did...I know you are too busy to for that. All I can say is I had a great deal of fun whipping this together:) It is always nice to be able to make a card you like and it hardly took any time at all to create...especially when you don't have much time to play.

Above is a pic of the card's interior. I don't know why, but I can never leave the inside blank...I am compelled to decorate it. Yup...I have issues:o} Of course those of you who know me...ahem...Heather and Carmen...you have known this for quite some time;o) Hahaha! Okay...enough of my blah, blah, blah. I did want to mention all the wonderful challenge blogs that inspired me to create this card:

Forgotten Scraps - Their theme is Spring or Flowers...I think this card is springy, and it has flowers:)

Color Dare - Their color palette is: Perfect Plum, Always Artichoke and a Neutral of your choice...my card has more plum, but there is green in the patterned paper and my neutral choice was white.

Incy Wincy Designs- They want you to use Punches or Dies on your creations...I used Nesties and a Marvy oval punch (for the sentiment).

A HUGETHANK YOU to all the challenge coordinators and design team members for their weekly inspiration and for keeping our mojo alive:o)

Have a spectacular day everyone, and a HUGE THANKS to YOUtoo for dropping by!!!!

Edited to add:

If you want to have a chance to WIN an AWESOME PRIZE ... post about the Wee Memories Challenge blog on your blog, on Facebook and/or Twitter...or all three (you don't have to add FB, but it would be lovely if you could) and leave a comment HERE letting Jenny know you have done so. Please be sure to leave your blog link in your comment and tell them what you love best about WMC;) Jenny will draw a winner this Sunday for a stamp set from UNITY STAMP CO!! If we are lucky...she might even draw 2 winners!!! Good luck to you all:)

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Howdy do, my friends! Today, I wanted to share a simple card I created using one of the fabulous digi images that the wonderful ladies at Papertrey Ink gave away last week. This sweet pinwheel image was created by the extremely talented Maile Belles, and I absolutely love the simplicity of it! I mean, you gotta love a card that can be created in a matter of minutes:o) I know I do. For this card, I printed out two images of the adorable pinwheel and colored them with Prismaclor markers. Since I was only going to pop up one of the pinwheels, I only colored the larger one. In the center of each pinwheel is a black, mini brad with a clear rhinestone adhered to it. I took the pinwheel image and attached it to a black scallop circle created with my Nesties die ad set it aside. I glued a piece of distressed DCWV patterned paper from the Café Mediterranean matstack pad to a piece of distressed Orange Zestcard stock. Then, I took a strip of black tulle and attached it towards the left side of the card stock and patterned paper. Next, a piece of Hawaiian Shores grosgrain ribbon was stitched onto the tulle and card stock along with a bunched up bit of tulle. I suppose I was feeling somewhat messy;o) Once all of this was done, I glued the pinwheel image onto the wadded up tulle. All of this was then adhered to a piece of distressed True Black and Hawaiian Shores card stock.

For the interior, I also chose to keep it very simple. I just stitched some of the Hawaiian Shores grosgrain ribbon to a scrap of True Black card stock. I like the willy-nilly look of the stitching...it makes it easier to create when things don't have to be perfect and neat. Know what I mean? A super simple card that was super fun to create!! I thank the ladies at Papertrey for sharing such wonderful images with us!!! It was such a kind gesture:o) I am planning to create a set of cards using another one of the images...it has a sweet rainbow and cloud...CuhYUTE!!! I'll share it with you as soon as it's done.

I was inspired to create this card by this fab & funky wedding cake topper from they Etsy shop - Claylicious...it is being featured this week at Etsy Inspired Challenges. I just love the black, turquoise and orange color combo! It's like a fiesta on paper:o) I have some fun owl images from Fresh Brewed Designs that I plan to use so I can play again at EIC. Sure hope I have the time to get to it before the challenge expires!!!

Monday, February 21, 2011

Happy Monday!!! My wish for you is that your week is going exactly as you hoped it would and that all your dreams come true:o) I wanted to play along in the Fresh Brewed Challenge for this week...it's a fabulous sketch...and what better stamp to use than one of the soon-to-be-released Cutie Pie stamps?!?! So....here is a sneakie peekie;o) I just love Heather's new line of rubbah!!! (If you would like to see yesterday's peek, you can check out this post...it features another Cutie Pie.) This little angel, along with the sweetie in yesterday's card, will be available for purchase on March 1st...and Fresh Brewed Designs will be hosting a blog hop to showcase all the little lovelies! If you take a look at the left sidebar, you can see how you could be entered into a drawing for a special prize that will be announced after the March 1st hop.

I had loads of fun playing with this week's FBD challenge sketch!!! It was a true challenge for me, especially the oval in the center. I know you are not required to follow sketches exactly, but something about this oval intrigued me. I thought for a bit, and this is the card I came up with. For the most part, I am quite happy with it:o) After I was finished, I thought of how fun it would be to create some Easter card's using this sketch...the oval portion could be a giant Easter egg:o) Think that is a card in the works...already jotted it down in my idea journal...along with Heather's wonderful sketch. Unfortunately, I am at that age where I have to write everything down...if I want to remember it. How sad, huh? I guess all the useless facts and a lifetime of songs (both good and bad) have cluttered up my poor brain;o} Please tell me you can relate.

Fairy Fun Fridays - It's All in the Fine Print...you are to incorporate fine print on your card/project as a design element...I used the beautiful Memory Box paper from the Enchanted 6x6 paper pad that has a bit of fine print on it.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Good evening, friends!! I hope you have enjoyed your weekend...so sorry it is almost over:( I spent most of my weekend playing with some wonderful new rubbah!! My BFF, Heather, sent me piccies of her soon-to-be released stamps about a month ago...and all I can say is...as soon as I saw them I needed them. As a crafter, you can sympathize right? Well, Mr. Postman delivered and I introduced these cuties to ink IMMEDIATELY. The stamp on this evening's card features one of the Cutie Pies:o) Isn't she SuhWEEEEET?!?! This little angel will be available for purchase on March 1st...and Fresh Brewed Designs will be hosting a blog hop to showcase all the little lovelies! If you take a look at the left sidebar, you can see how you could be entered into a drawing for a special prize that will be announced after the March 1st hop.

I colored this angelic Cutie Pie with Prismacolor markers; and if you look at her wings, the interior was also painted with Creative Inspiration Paints (in Fairy Dust) to add a soft touch of shimmer. Then, her wings were outlined with Stickles (in Crystal). For the layout, I was inspired by last week's Mojo Monday sketch... I love this sketch! It made my mojo flow because as soon as I saw it...I thought clouds. I know you are probably thinking the image was the actual inspiration, but it wasn't...it was the sketch that caused my dim lightbulb to brighten...why not put the image on a cloud? **BING** So, I dug out some white felt from my stash and did just that. I ran the felt through my Cuttlebug using the Labels Four Nesties...added a bit of Stickles around the edges for the proverbial silver lining...then added the image (after the Stickles dried). Easy peasy...and I like the softness and dimension it created. What do you think?

All I can say is...I had loads of fun creating this card:o) Personally, I think a lot of that has to do with the darling image. I don't know about you, but when a stamp makes me smile before I even get it colored up...it puts me in a chipper mood and makes creating all the more enjoyable. I suppose that is why I am so drawn to cutesy images. If you like this image as much as I do...don't forget to drop by Heather's Fresh Brewed Designs challenge blog and shop on March 1st!! I will be posting more cards using the soon-to-be-released stamps between now and the release date:o) So please stay tuned.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

...as if it were a precious flower. I love this quote!!! Recently, I had the pleasure of meeting (via Facebook) a wonderful lady named Michelle Perkett. Not only is she a wonderful and inspirational person, but she is as nice as they come!!! Through her FB posts, I have learned that she and I share a love for journaling and uplifting quotes that keep us focused and positive. I have admired her beautiful artwork for quite some time, but stopped myself from purchasing anything because I have so very many stamps that have yet to get the slightest bit of attention. I have been trying to stay the course by not over spending...and let me tell you, it is HARD! Well, I finally saw the image that I simply could not pass up...I just had to have "Rosie"...and I knew exactly how I wanted to create with her:o) So...I wasn't being wasteful;o) As soon as I saw her, I thought she would be the perfect image for my next blessings journal. Everyday, I write about the blessings in my life...it allows to me not take the small things for granted. Truly...many things we consider "small" are huge to another, so these journals keeps me focused, thankful and grounded. Seriously, everyday we wake up, are capable of getting out of bed and being surrounded by people we love (and who love us) is a beautifully blessed day!!! How thankful I am for all the gifts that God has shared with me!!!!

I started this by digging through my stash and finding a pack of Martha Stewart journals I purchased at Big Lots about a year ago...maybe longer. Once I found the journal I wanted to use, I chose the colors I would use for the image. Rosie was colored with Prismacolor markers and Stickles for that extra pop of sparkle. Once the Stickles dried, I cut out the image of Rosie and the little flowers...then printed out another image and adhered all the cutouts to it (I thought this would give it a touch of dimension). I clipped the corners with a Fiskars corner punch and matted it to a piece of PTI sweet blush card stock and PTI kraft card stock. I bordered the kraft cs with some vintage lace I found at a yard sale. Before I attached the image to the journal, I added the ribbon bookmark to the back of it and attached it all to the journal with tacky tape. To finish it off, I added some PTI ribbon, some pearl "sprigs" (don't know what they're officially called), a dainty Prima flower and some adhesive half pearls. The heart attached to the ribbon bookmark was made with yarn and plastic canvas.

Thank you so much for dropping by today!!! I very much appreciate it, especially since I do not have the time to return the favor as I would like. I will try my best to stop by and visit those of you who are gracious enough to leave a comment. Again, THANK YOU!!!!

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Happy Hump Day!!! It is that time of month again...time for the Facebook Design D.I.V.A.S "Oldies But Goodies Blog Hop". You should have arrived here from Angie'samazing blog; however, if you arrived here first, you will want to start at the top of the hop at Brenda's beautiful blog. If you hopped with us last month, you know that the theme is to look through and use our neglected stash of crafting goodies...you know those wonderful items we hoard away for that perfect day;o) If you are anything like me, you probably have plenty of things that are *screaming* to be played with, used and given just a wee bit of attention:o) Like last month, I chose to use one of my adorable Aurorastamps. The poor darling was feeling sad and left out. Plus, with the weather being so very cold and gloomy lately...I felt the urge to create something that spread warmth and cheer, and I think sweet Aurora - Out on the Town does just that. I was inspired by the colors in this coupon tote from Glow Girl's Etsy shop...which is the featured shop on the Etsy Inspired Challenges this week. Don't these colors scream warm weather and summertime?!?!

With all the orange in my card, you might have to grab your sunglasses quickly...sorry, I should have forewarned you;o) Hey, if you can't have the sunshine naturally...it might as well come to you in a card right?

I stamped Aurora in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored her with Prismacolor markers. I stamped her flower umbrella a second time, cut it out and popped it up to create a bit of dimension. For the fluffy look in the flower center and on her sweet, little dress, I used Tulip puffy paint in lime...and for a touch of sparkle, I added a teensy bit of Glamour Dust to the Tulip paint while it was still wet. The card stock is from DCWV and the patterned paper is from My Mind's Eye (I hate to admit it, but I've had this paper for about two years...maybe longer). The pearls are from Basic Grey...the ribbon is from Offray...the flowers are Prima...and the lace is a yard sale find.

I hope this card was able to bring a bit of sunshine into your day:) Your next stop on this fabulously fun hop is Karen's creative and inspiring blog. I hope we have inspired you to dig into your fun and crafty collection and use those things that have been hidden away. Don't you think it's time to show 'em a little love;o) Have a wonderful Wednesday, and thank you so much for dropping by!!!!

Sketch and Stash Challenge Blog- sad to say, but everything on this card is neglected:( but not after today...also, I did not add the sentiment asked for in the sketch...will add it when it heads out to its recipient (hope that's okay)

Monday, February 7, 2011

Here is a little something I have been working on to welcome Little Miss Mary Elizabeth into the world. Randy and I were fortunate enough to be able to visit her and her lovely parents this past weekend:o) To say Mary is ADORABLE would be an understatement...she has to be one of the most beautiful babies I have ever seen, and she is SO good!! I could have held that little angel all night:o) I can honestly say...without a moments hesitation...I am ready to be a gwamma!

Aren't these BEAUTIFUL?!?!Daisy Petal Designs is filled with wonderful creations and inspiration! If you need to jumpstart your mojo, check out this store and your creativity will most definitely kick in! I hope your week is off to a fabulous start!!! Thank you so very much for dropping by:o)